Feel safe! Where?

It is highly ironic that after the Government spent several million dollars telling us how unsafe we were and how critical it was to reform the Police Service to fight crime that is enveloping the country and causing people to flee, we now have the result of a Government sponsored poll that suggests that everything is hunky- dory and we all feel very safe indeed, thank you very much. The results of the survey conducted by a United Kingdom research firm on contract to Government which showed that 88 per- cent of the population felt safe — 66 percent “very safe” and 22 per- cent “fairly safe” — are clearly absurd.

So, too, were the findings which stated that 75 percent of the population continued to feel safe in their homes while they were alone at home after dark, and 60 percent while walking alone after dark. It is an almost Utopian situation, one which would hardly have been open to challenge had the survey been conducted three to four decades ago. The findings suggest that the poll reached conclusions in keeping with the image the Government wishes to present despite the reality of the situation, which is clearly quite different. Let us be realistic. There may be indeed people who feel safe or very safe in this country. But the vast majority of us consider crime the number one problem affecting our lives and we simply do not feel safe in our homes or in our communities.

Persons are being held up, in some areas in broad daylight. Citizens are being confronted with guns and/or other weapons as they leave their cars to either open their gates or to enter their homes. They are being abducted. Householders have been awakened from sleep and confronted by armed bandits and young women, naive enough to accept lifts from strangers, have been taken to lonely spots and sexually assaulted. Persons have been robbed in all income areas, and there have been instances of violence at some fetes. Even the security at some of the gated communities has been breached. Where exactly was this poll taken and where were the people interviewed living?

The results of the survey, which has been published by the Ministry of Public Administration and Information in its Opinion Leaders 2004 Newsletter, suggest that persons in Trinidad and Tobago are safer than those in the United Kingdom. So what? We are not living in the UK but in Trinidad and Tobago. Were statistics on crime in certain areas in Trinidad and Tobago taken into account when the survey was being planned? Meanwhile, even as the newsletter spoke of the relatively large percentages of persons feeling safe in differing environments it, nonetheless, observed that 81 percent of the people thought that crime and personal safety should be a priority for Vision 2020! To date Government has paid out, according to Dr Lenny Saith, $2.5 million to the company conducting the research on a three-year contract and no doubt is pleased with the results it got for the money spent. But Government should note that it can’t fool all the people all the time. And  there is more. Listen to this:  89 percent of the sample believed that Government had achieved its pledges in the area of education; 70 percent were satisfied with WASA and only 34 per- cent dissatisfied with the hospitals. Give us a break!

Government must know that the findings do not coincide with the views expressed all the time by ordinary citizens who consider themselves under siege. One of the ironies of the age is that many of the homes, even in several of the depressed areas and even in middle and upper middle income areas, security lights burn all night, every night. And burglar alarms are probably the hottest and “must have” items in houses. Perhaps, Public Administration and Information Minister Dr Saith, may wish to ask the research company to conduct a poll to find out why.